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This one was an awful lot of work – but it was good! The ingredients were:

For the custom-made Green Curry Paste:

Cumin, 2 teaspoons

Garlic, 16 cloves

Galangal, 2 tablespoons, sliced

Lemon grass, 4 stalks, chopped

Shrimp paste, 2 teaspoons

Kaffir lime skin, 1/2 teaspoon

Cilantro root, 1 cup

Thai chili peppers, 10

Jalapeno, 3

Shallot, 1

And for the rest:

Chicken, 2 pounds, cubed

Thai eggplant, 2 cups, quartered

Thai basil, 1/2 cup

Kaffir lime leaves, 12

Sugar, 6 tablespoons

Fish sauce, 1/2 cup

Coconut milk, 2 cans

Coconut cream, 1 can

The ingredients.

More exotic ingredients! If you’re a longtime blog reader, as many are, you may remember this post, in which I purchased an entire case of kaffir limes, just to harvest the skin.

Blending.

A bit of that skin is a key ingredient in the green curry you’re supposed to make. As is a cup – an entire cup! – of chopped cilantro root. When I started this Thai cookbook project, I looked everywhere I could for cilantro root. I couldn’t find it anywhere locally, and while I found a small vial of dried and powdered cilantro root online, it wasn’t that cheap. A cup of it would cost me a small fortune. So instead I spent this summer growing more cilantro than I had any right to. Of course I tried to make use of the tops whenever I could, but the real prize were the roots, which I cleaned, chopped, and froze for later use.

Blending.

Blend all the green curry ingredients together, and it looks like this.

Yes, I’ve still been cooking, even if I haven’t been posting about it. But November is National Thai Homecooking Foodblogging Month, so I couldn’t let that pass without posting at least a few of the recipes I’ve tried. Therefore, the ingredients!

Oil

Pork, 1/2 pound, cubed

Chicken, 1/2 pound, cubed

Tomato, 2, cut as you like

Bamboo shoots, 1 can

Straw mushrooms, 1 can

Green beans, in 1-inch lengths, about a cup or two

Thai eggplant, quartered, about a cup or two

Garlic, 5 cloves, minced

Red curry paste, 4 tablespoons

Yellow bean sauce, 2 tablespoons

Pickled mustard greens, sliced, about 1 cup

Curry powder, 2 teaspoons

Turmeric, 1 teaspoon

Brown sugar, 6 tablespoons

Fish sauce, 1/2 cup

Cellophane noodles, about half a package

The ingredients

Pickled mustard

This recipe calls for a few unusual ingredients – the most unusual of which is pickled mustard greens. Or maybe not so original – they were easily found at an Asian market, once I knew what to look for. They are what they sound like – the greens of a mustard plant, pickled.

Cubed

You may want to spend some time preparing your ingredients, to start with. Cube the pork and the chicken, for example.

Chopped.

And cut up your veggies.

Bathing noodles

Oh, and the noodles – you’ll want to soak them for about 15 minutes in hot water.

Frying meat.

The first step is what you might guess – cook the meat in the oil until it’s pretty close to done.

Adding the garlic.

Then add the minced garlic.

Adding more stuff.

Then the curry paste and yellow bean sauce.

…And still more stuff (will it never end?!)

And then still more stuff – the noodles; curry powder and turmeric; fish sauce and sugar.

Almost ready…

Oh, and the veggies, too.

Voila!

Lastly, once stuff has cooked down and softened to your satisfaction, the pickled mustard. Then enjoy!

You may remember that we made the red curry paste before; follow the link to find out how. And as for the rest, a few of the ingredients are harder to come by.

Thai basil.

Thai basil adds an “herbal-licorice” flavor that’s different than the traditional Italian sweet basil. If you’re lucky, you may be able to find it at your local grocer, or if not, at a specialty Asian market, as I did.

Kaffir lime leaves.

Kaffir lime leaves also add a distinctive flavor, but they’re tough to eat – so you may want to set them aside as you eat a dish like this one. And, again, they can be harder to come by. I’ve found one Asian market in the DC area that carries them; you can also order them on Amazon. I keep my spare leaves in the freezer for future use.

Thai eggplant.

Finally, Thai eggplant obviously differ from the large purple eggplant you normally find at the grocery store. They’re much smaller and themselves can come in different varieties. Again, I found these at an Asian supermarket.

Coconut milk and curry paste.

Once you have all the ingredients, making the recipe itself is incredibly simple. First, heat the curry paste and a can of coconut milk until boiling.

Adding the chicken.

Then add the chicken, and cook until the chicken is nearly done.

Adding the veggies.

Then add the veggies – the bamboo, mushrooms, and eggplant – as well as the sugar and fish sauce.

Adding the leaves.

Finally, when the veggies are cooked to your desired level of tenderness, add in the Kaffir lime leaves and the basil, as well as the last can of coconut milk. Mix it all together, bring to a boil again, and then you’re done. Enjoy!

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A Thought

"When someone works for less pay then she can live on – when, for example, she goes hungry so that you can eat more cheaply and conveniently – then she has made a great sacrifice for you, she has made you a gift of some part of her abilities, her health, and her life. The 'working poor,' as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philantropists of our society."